Maybe Prohabition was a good thing.

It was a very crazy week here, but filled with "good" choices, lots of movement , and a day of Jury Duty.  I think I would rather have a root canal without pain relief than be summoned for Jury Duty ! It's not that I have objections to doing one's civic duty, but in my case right now , Jury Duty service is in downtown Chicago, and a minimum 2 hour commute be it through mass transportation or driving oneself. Good news was that the commute was completely handicap friendly, so my fears of not being able to board the trains fast enough to avoid having a limb torn off proved to be irrational. Thanks to consistent exercise and avoiding dietary triggers, I was very mobile and even considered stalling to shop in some of the stores downtown. However, the reality of packing and the need to keep expenses to a bare minimum prevented me for doing so. I have to say , if you get a chance to make it to downtown Chicago, check out The Thompson building. Outside looks like an interesting shaped building, but inside it is a breathtaking spectacle of shopping, offices and more done in such a way that it is awe inspiring !

  That was Friday, and Saturday found me so glad to be done with the service and the return to the prospect of packing that I forgot to weigh in. ( as I have sated before this is not about weight loss but about gaining mobility , so skipping  weigh in is a non event). I spent the day cleaning the house, moving around dejunking , sent the guys grocery shopping and then at dinner ( italian sausage patties that were on sale , deli salads that were on sale and bottom of the line white buns on sale). It was wonderful to be able to move with minimum pain ! I decided to have a beer because it was very hot. Beer on a hot summer day can be very thirst quenching. It was one of the bigger mistakes of my life ! I did not even drink half the can, and within 10 minutes my bladder kicked into hyperdrive ( not pretty) , and every joint in my body became achy and swollen. It was so bad I could barely walk by the end of the night. On Sunday I could barely move !( and as of Tuesday morning, I am still in serious pain). What the heck ??? Why in the world was this impacting me so strongly ? Was I suddenly allergic to beer ? Was it a backlash of spending a month trying to eat in a more "diet" friendly manner ? I am totally baffled . I used to drink beer when I was younger, but then it started giving me serious heartburn  and so I stopped. I have never experienced such an instant and full bodied reaction to a food unless it was an allergic one. Can a person be allergic to beer ?

I don't know the answer specifically, but I do know that it seems to say what I am doing at the moment is not healthy for the long haul. If a diet of traditional foods helped me to recover and a month of switching to "healthy" foods possibly robbed me of my mobility , what would an intelligent person do ? It strikes me that the answer lies in traditional foods. This week I am taking something called a bone broth challenge. Bone broth is a stock made from the bones of an animal ( chicken, cow, lamb)  long, slow cooked with a bit of vinegar to pull out the calcium. Drink 2 cups of this per day  WITH the fat on ( your body needs it) and it helps to rebuild cartilage, connective tissue, remove cellulite and even make your skin and nails healthier. Another thing I will do is to drink a quart of Nettle Infusion per day. Nettle is a lowly garden weed that contains a hefty does of minerals that the body needs. It strengthens the urinary tract, boosts iron, nourishes the bones , heals respiratory allergies, nourishes the adrenal glands( something critical for menopausal women) and improves the appearance of skin, hair and nails. Next week I will return to making sourdough breads because of their benefit to the digestive system.  This with the continuation of the gentle movements I have been doing should go a long way.

Strangely enough, I am thankful for the sudden set back. It has helped me to determine what is really important , and what it not. I will simply have to find a way to afford these foods while we are cutting back. We really need to have me functional and mobile !